Playing the good Samaritan has risks

Intervention, against someone trying to commit a crime, has so many risks.

THE merits of leaping to the aid of someone being attacked, and putting yourself in possible danger, caused a minor debate in our newsroom this week.

It was prompted by Tuesday's story of "hero mum" Lucy Knight who stepped in to try to stop a bag-snatcher at a supermarket in Auckland. Ms Knight was knocked down and later underwent surgery for head injuries.

Her intervention was probably instinct, a decision on the instant, and we'll all get faced with one of those one day.

At a lower level, in terms of crime prevention, and making arrests, police are always grateful for those who are observant - it's one reason why we have community patrols. They are probably grateful, too, for safe intervention by members of the public, such as several people restraining someone who has committed a crime.

I believe one of the greatest services you can provide is, when seeing a situation which doesn't feel right, stay and keep an eye on it. I've observed and even followed domestic situations on the streets of Masterton where a woman doesn't look to be in a safe situation, thankfully to the point where the woman has made herself safe by entering a shop and seeking help.

But that is observing from a safe distance - I'm not in danger. Whether it can be taken a step further would depend on how it escalates.

In the domestic situations I've described, it may be sufficient that an aggressor realises people are watching, on the verge of phoning for help. It may be sufficient to yell for help, to call for police.

To physically intervene, as an instinctive action, is understandable. It's your outrage and sense of wrong causing you to step forward, in a society where a lot of people don't want to get involved - even from a safe distance. I can't condemn someone with a big enough heart to intervene, but I despair at how badly it's ended.

Intervention, against someone trying to commit a crime, has so many risks. But a society without people like Mrs Knight would be a broken society indeed.